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Building Wellington’s biggest ever gingerbread house

This stunning house was baked by Te Papa’s Executive Chef, Bernd Lippmann. It’s the biggest ever made in Wellington! Check out the time-lapse video to see how it was done.

The tradition started in Germany, where witches have long used gingerbread as a building material. In 1812, the brothers Grimm broke this news when they wrote the fairytale Hansel and Gretel. This story offered useful tips about:

nasty stepmothers

the poor choice of crumbs as tracking material

the clever use of a bone to prevent consumption by witch.

All this seemed perfect for an opera, and soon German opera houses were busy making replica gingerbread houses for their performances. Bakeries were quick to join the craze. Gingerbread houses are now part of Christmas menus across Europe.

What went in

Our gingerbread house contains …

Flour 296 kilograms

Sugar 148 kilograms

Honey 29.6 kilograms

Water 74 litres

Butter 44.4 kilograms

Baking soda 6.29 kilograms

Ground ginger 4.44 kilograms

Mixed spice 2.22 kilograms

Cinnamon 2.22 kilograms

Milk 14.8 litres

Salt 370 grams

Baking time: about 180 hours

Make your own!

You can make your own gingerbread house by buying a kit from the Information Desk, Te Papa Kids’ Store (Level 2), or Te Papa Cafe (Level 1). This is a limited edition of only 300! All proceeds go to Wellington Children’s Hospital.

takes you back to Hansel and Gretel! I remember winning a Gingerbread house some years back, enjoyed it with the Carter Home in Carterton, the old folk were thrilled with being able to share it with me.. all kids at heart!